Jamaat defers Monday's hartal to Thursday

Jamaat-e-Islami has deferred its Monday’s countrywide dawn-to-dusk hartal to Thursday citing reasons of second phase of Biswa Ijtema and Saraswati Puja.

The Ijtema will end Sunday while the puja will be celebrated on Tuesday.

In a statement this evening, Jamaat acting secretary general Shafiqur Rahman said they would enforce the shutdown on Thursday instead of Monday so that the devotees joining the Ijtema can smoothly return to their destinations and the Hindu community can observe the puja.

It, however, will stage ‘peaceful’ demonstrations across the country on Monday protesting what the party said the government’s design to kill its ameer Motiur Rahman Nizami.

Jamaat on Friday called the hartal for Monday protesting the death penalty to Nizami in the 10-truck arms haul case.

A Chittagong court on Thursday handed down the death penalty to 14 people, including ex-ministers Lutfozzaman Babar and Nizami and former top intelligence officials, for smuggling 10 truckloads of arms into the port city during the last BNP-led government's tenure.

The 14 convicts were also given life sentences for possessing illegal firearms and ammunition in another case filed over the largest-ever arms haul in the country about a decade ago.